Salina Turda – a mine out of the Star Wars

With over 2000 years of history and with highly preserved mining galleries & excavating tools, Salina Turda represents today the largest salt mine museum in the world.

Salina Turda – Location & history

Located in Turda, Transylvania, the site is a large underground wonderland with an amusement park nestled 120 meters below ground, inside one of the oldest salt mines ever known. Salt extraction first started in Antiquity, continued throughout the Middle-Ages and ended early in the 20th century (1932). Afterwards, the place was used for everything from a cheese storage center to a bomb shelter in WWII.

As a tourist, it’s easy to get distracted by the stunning rugged caverns, the result of mining that carved out over three billion tons of salt. History meets legend as the mining museum unravels its secrets:

The Crivac Room: an octagonal chamber housing “The Crivac” – a machine exploited by horse power that served for the vertical transport of salt from Rudolf mine. Built in 1881, it’s the only machine of its kind in Romania (and probably Europe too), having a unique shape.

Rudolf Mine: 42 meters deep, 50 meters wide and 80 meters long

Terezia Mine: 120 meters deep coned-shaped mine with a 8m deep lake at its bottom. In the middle of the lake there is a small salt island.

Tourism magnet & Star Wars resemblance

Regardless of its history, this salt mine is not just a huge museum, but an epic tourist attraction. It was ranked by Business Insider as the most beautiful underground place in the world. Likewise, Salina Turda is ranked 22 among the most spectacular tourist destinations in the world.

If you’re into Star Wars, Star Trek or any other type of Sci-Fi entertainment – bring some cold water with you. Once you’re inside the main room, you’ll need to pour it onto your head to know you’re not day dreaming. Words are not the best way to describe the view so we’ll let the photos and your imagination do the work.

The gargantuan sized amusement park contains attractions like:

An amphitheater with 180 seats for concerts & other shows

An underground lake that may be explored with paddles and row boats

A Ferris wheel (yes, an actual Ferris wheel inside a mine!)

Spa treatment rooms with natural aerosols

Bowling alley, mini-golf, sport field, table tennis, pool tables.

Were you enchanted by the sci-fi theme park?

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What a fascinating hisorty of this salt mine and fantastic photography series. Excellent work — loved each photo for the unique camera angle and visual appeal. I felt like I was on another planet it was so surreal.cheers,joanny